


Brontide

by risotto



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Astraphobia, Comfort, Ficlet, Gift Fic, M/M, Short One Shot, Slight fluff, Thunderstorms, implications Abound
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-17
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-22 23:46:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8305792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/risotto/pseuds/risotto
Summary: brontide(n.) the low rumble of distant thunder. (Alternate summary: Hunk and Shiro, in the storm.)





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is for cesar-ulises over at Tumblr. A sweetheart, who requested some Shiro/Hunk for a quick ficlet. The prompt was "in the storm" and "hold my hand." The romantic undertones are there, if you squint.
> 
> Please enjoy!

Hunk hates thunderstorms.

They rank pretty damn high on an already-long list of things that frighten him, right after all forms of turbulence, every species of spider known to man, and the light glinting off Pidge’s glasses in a dark room, in that order. Traveling through space and fighting with Galran forces has helped him with avoiding most of those issues just fine. And as long as he doesn’t look Pidge’s way when the lights dim, he’ll be okay.

But now that they’re stopped on some random planet with the _worst climate ever—_ because how can it even be possible for it to rain constantly, really _—_ he’s not so sure anymore.

Bad enough he drew the short straw during watch assignments and had to join Shiro on his perimeter check outside the castle. Pointless, really. All of this advanced alien technology onboard and they have to send two guys with only a Bayard and a Galran prosthesis to defend themselves. Why couldn’t Allura and Coran activate the castle’s defensive—

A sudden, sharp crack of thunder snaps Hunk out of his reverie and in his fright, he hides beneath his hands and tries to curl up into a ball.

Shiro glances over at him from his post at the mouth of the cave they took refuge in, an eyebrow cocked high on his forehead. With confusion or concern, Hunk can’t tell, and that just makes him feel even worse.

“Everything okay there, Hunk?”

“Y-Yeah,” he mumbles, bowing his head and squeezing his eyes tight before forcing them open again, “I just, y’know, with the thunder an’ stuff. It’s like that classical song. You know the one, right? ‘Thunderbolts and lightning’...”

Shiro tilts his head in thought. And then, “’Very very frightening me’...?”

"Yeah, that one!" Relieved that one cultural reference didn’t sail over him like they typically do, Hunk nods excitedly, then squeaks and ducks again when there’s another roll of thunder, this time not too far from their sanctuary.

“Gah—! _Geez_ , I’m sorry!” Hunk half-sobs into hands. “I can’t—I can’t deal with going out into that right now. I’ll do anything, Shiro. Your chores, your laundry—I’ll even clean and  wax and buff your Lion. Just please please _please_ don’t make me go out into _that_!”

“Hey.”

Before Hunk’s brain can catch up to what’s going on, Shiro’s sitting at his right side on the drier portion of the cave floor, his back propped up on the wall. His usually-perfect posture all but gone, he slumps a bit, sits with one knee drawn up, the other leg stretched out by Hunk’s thicker one.

Hunk blinks, unsure. “Shiro? Uh, shouldn’t you—?”

“Easy, easy,” Shiro murmurs, calmly. “I’m here.”

“Thanks.” And while he appreciates Shiro's presence near him, Hunk feels too dumb and timid to say anything else.

For a while, the only sounds are the ruckus going on outside and whatever caterwauling and other signs of distress Hunk fails to keep to himself.

Then Shiro says, “hey,” again, and reaches down between them, his hand coming over his. The fingers of Shiro’s hand—his real one—slot in between Hunk’s own and settle there, comfortably warm and reassuring.

“Better now?”

Heat rushes up Hunk’s neck as he swallows and nods. “Uh, yeah, much. Just...can you—”

“I won’t tell Lance or the others,” Shiro says.

“That’s not what I was gonna say,” Hunk informs him almost too quickly for it to _not_ sound like he wants him to spill the beans about this. Lance would probably die of jealousy. “What I was gonna say was can you—I mean, can we...keep it like this, at least until the storm dies down?”

Shiro’s whole face softens into a smile that spreads all the way to his eyes as he looks directly at him, and suddenly Hunk remembers why everyone and their mother back at the Garrison had scribbled the name Takashi Shirogane in hearts all over their ledgers.

“Of course, I’ll be here,” Shiro says. “For however long it takes.”

And just like that, Hunk doesn’t mind thunderstorms.

**Author's Note:**

> So what _is_ this ship typically called? Hiro? Shunk?


End file.
